Women of Bethlehem Steel - Janice Andrew

Annotation Janice Andrew worked in ore handling in the Bethlehem Plant at the Bethlehem Steel Corporation from June of 1979 until she was laid-off in March of 1982. In this interview, Andrew reflects on what attracted her to Bethlehem Steel while recounting her experience as a laborer in the Bethlehem Plant. Andrew recounts her first day on the job, describes the different tasks and jobs she did during her three years with Bethlehem Steel, and discusses the challenges that women workers faced in the plant, including a lack of camaraderie among women workers. Before working at Bethlehem Steel, Andrew worked in a textile factory. After Bethlehem Steel, she struggled to find good, fulfilling employment. Eventually, she became a home care provider, a job that she enjoyed and that she held until her health caused her to no longer be able to work. Andrew also discusses her husband’s thirty-year career as a laborer with Bethlehem Steel and his eventual layoff and loss of pension benefits following the closure of the plant and the bankruptcy of the company. This interview is part of a series of interviews conducted by Lehigh University and the Steelworkers’ Archives and supported by the Lehigh University Mellon Digital Humanities Initiative and the South Side Initiative. An oral history interview is an act of memory and hence both highly selective and highly subjective. While it accurately reflects what a narrator remembers (or chooses to tell) of his or her experience and viewpoints, it may not accurately represent what actually transpired or what another person may have experienced. As such users should subject interviews to the same degree of critical scrutiny they would any other historical source.